Garabandal cannot be reduced to simple "events of the past"; it remains mysteriously contemporary as we await the fulfillment of the "Warning", "Miracle", & "Great Sign."
"Therefore, judge not before the time: until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall every man have praise from God." (I Cor. 4:5)

Monday, February 6, 2012

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 1

5th Diary

July 30, and 31, 1961

Summary:

To ask for a test to prove what the girls see or feel. “You come where no one laughs at us.” They marched in ecstasy on their knees. Loli’s father and the pastor were very nervous. The Virgin told them when it was time for the “Gloria.” July 31st: The girls answered about the identity of the Vision, and her voice, etc. They said something about the secret. They stayed where the vision happened when they were in ecstasy and when they left the ecstasy. They gave many titles for the vision. There was a vision in the afternoon. Mari Cruz was certain. The Calls coincided. At 8:55pm the vision began, and they offered it objects and they cried. They recognized a rosary that had already been kissed. “Mercy, mercy.” The crown. The child. It was 9:27pm. The two girls left the vision and Loli followed. It was 9:50pm. Jacinta entered into ecstasy, but Mari Cruz did not. Loli was still, then she cried absentmindedly. Jacinta was worried about Loli. They prayed the rosary in the Church.

July 30, 1961

I ascended for the second time on July 31st, the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, in the company of members of the Fontaneda family and Fr. Andrés Pardo, who was a seminarian at that time. My brother Fr. Luís and I signed at Mari Cruz’s house and we tried to understand what had happened the day before, on July 30th. What I wrote down in my notebook says:

“On the 30th they revealed it in the Church and also in the grandmother’s house.” I find more detail in Fr. Luís’ second notebook. There is a reference made to Loli’s mother: “At 9:30, upon leaving Mass, near the street, next to the school, they revealed it. They had received communion. When they don’t receive communion, St. Michael comes to give it to them. Mari Cruz stopped during the revelation.”

“They asked for a test: ‘Make it rain, make it snow.’ The seer says: ‘It has already rained enough.’ Upon waking they say that they have to go to the Church to pray the Rosary.”

Note: In asking for a test or a sign, things like that it would rain, or that it would become night, it is a reference to the state that the girls are in, where it isn’t night, it doesn’t rain, and it doesn’t get cold. As a result, sometimes we hear them ask as a sign: “Make it like night all of a sudden,” and they say this in the middle of the night. It is light where the girls are.

“Fr. Valentín asked for an explanation and they said that the Virgin and St. Michael were there. Then at five, in her mother’s house she said: “How do you come here without anyone seeing you?” “They come from so far away.”

Note: This “is her mother’s house” refers to Loli’s grandmother, who is the mother of the one who is telling this, that is, Loli’s mother. This whole passage from the 30thh is below the epigraph, “Loli’s mother says.”

The sentence “how do you come here where nobody sees” corresponds with the general idea that it is better if they see in ecstasy because they believe better there. At the same time, it is supposed that they are victims of a phenomenon that they cannot control. There have been completely private ecstasies. They are surprised by them: Mari Cruz was alone, behind a wardrobe in her house when she went into ecstasy. For her to be surprised like this was a true coincidence. She was standing, and she believed that the ecstasies had taken place on other occasions when no one had witnessed them. At any rate, the girls are extremely reserved in talking about the number of times the ecstasies have happened as well as the topics of conversation during the visions.

“Oh, oh! You’re leaving,” she says, walking back on her knees from the balcony.

Note: I heard the people in the village talk about the 31st. They said that the girls went walking on their knees for a few meters from the bedroom where the Virgin appeared to near the railing of the balcony. The girls felt that the Virgin was drawing them away a little bit. It seems that this was the first time in which the people observed that the girls moved from one place to another while still in ecstasy.

“After this revelation they prayed a Station on the balcony, while still seeing the Virgin.”

Note: The praying of the Station to Jesús in the Sacrament was very frequent from the beginning. There was an agreement about this practice of praying to the Most Holy, which was one of the signs given on October 18th in the girls’ message: “Visit the Most Holy often.”

“Upon finishing they said that they were going to pray a Rosary in the Church. It was full of people. There were doctors there who took their pulses. Loli’s father was angry, and wanted them to leave her alone.”

Note: It is understandable that the parents of the girls would feel nervous, and the pastor as well. The visions had been going on for almost a month and a half. Up to this moment, no one had spoken with clarity about these occurrences. Spontaneous doctors and others who passed for doctors though they weren’t, came near the girls and pinched and squeezed them, etc. At the end, it was evident that the girls were anesthetized to a degree because of the reactions of their reflexes that we observed. All of these tests, done without control by anonymous people, who disappeared without us knowing anything about them, annoyed the parents of the girls and made them nervous. Also, the journalists had already begun to give reports in various newspapers. They changed the news and distorted some ideas about the religiousness of the father of one of the girls.

“Then the girls went to the Church where they prayed the rosary without counting on their fingers. They didn’t make any mistakes. At night she told me: ‘The Virgin told us when to pray the ‘gloria’ and Jacinta prayed with the Virgin.’”

Note: All that the people have been able to obtain regarding the manner in which the girls pray the rosary with the Virgin is this: Sometimes the Virgin is with one of the girls, and sometimes they pray alone. The Virgin explains the fact that she prays the Hail Mary by telling the girls that she is teaching them how to pray. She told them when it was time for the ‘gloria’ and so they didn’t make any mistakes even though they didn’t count. They did not count the prayers when they prayed in ecstasy. We observed them many times. The observation in Fr. Luís’ 2nd notebook, together with the reference from July 30th, is valid for the 31st; she will see then and also on August 1st.

I took note ofthe summary of the 30th from a conversation I had on the 31st with Fr. Valentín. What we had said before this proceeds from the conversation we’d had with Loli’s parents. The summary of this conversation with Fr. Valentín is this:

“They were in ecstasy talking next to the school. The three girls were there, Mari Cruz had returned earlier. They asked for a miracle. Mari Cruz, who was in the normal state, laughed when she saw the other girls in ecstasy. The girls who were in ecstasy said: “Why did Mari Cruz leave?” Later, they prayed the rosary in the normal state. Mari Cruz had an ecstasy before this. The priest asked them for an explanation, and they all gave the same response.

That same day, in one of their grandmother’s house they said: “Why have you come here? Oh! How far you’re going,” and the girls left, moving until they reached the balcony.

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Marianne suffered a heart attack on March 13th, 2012. On 7/23/2013, she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for over 3 weeks. She did receive the Sacrament of the Sick! On 8/9/2013, Marianne went to the Lord.Deacon John

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UPDATE: THE CHURCH"S POSITION ON GARABANDAL

The magazine "Garabandal Journal" has updated some information regarding the village of Garabandal, the current Bishop and Pastor.For many years, while never being condemned, the Garabandal events were under a dark cloud as some of the first bishops (but not all) opposed the events. But the tide started to change with Bishop Juan Antonio del Val Gallo (1971-1991). While he at first did not believe in the apparitions he took a more open position. In 1981, he became a believer and during his reign, he lifted the ban on priests going up to the village and allowed them to celebrate Mass in the village church with the permission of the village pastor. The next bishop, Jose Vilaplana Blasco, was a non-believer, but left in place the positive changes made by Bishop del Val. In 2006, he was transferred to another diocese in southern Spain and Archbishop of Oviedo, Carlos Osoro Sierra, was made Apostolic Administrator of Santander. The Archbishop, building on the positive measures taken by Bishop Del Val, allowed priests visiting Garabandal to celebrate Mass in the village church even if the pastor was not there (he ministered to a number of other villages and was not always in Garabandal). The Archbishop also gave visiting priests faculties to hear confessions.In 2007, Ed Kelly from the United States, wrote to the Archbishop requesting the current status of Garabandal and received a letter from the prelate, under his own stationary and signed by him dated May 7, 2007, in which he said: "I respect the apparitions and have known of authentic conversions. In light of these events, how can we not always feel the need to open our heart to our mother Mary to tell her that we need her protection, help, spirit, desire, hope and love! I encourage you to continue maintaining this devotion to our Mother."In 2011, two 50th anniversaries were celebrated in Garabandal (1) for the first appearance of St. Michael on June 18, 1961, and (2) the first vision of Our Lady on July 2, 1961. The celebrations were conducted under the auspices of the Santander Diocese represented by the village pastor Fr. Rolando Cabeza (also dean of the area). During the celebrations, another ban was lifted when Fr. Cabeza, spoke of the apparitions from the pulpit, and read the two formal Messages of Our Lady at Garabandal.On May 6, 2012, current Bishop of Santander, Vecente Jimenez Zamora (installed in 2007) celebrated a Mass in Garabandal in commemoration of the completion of a restoration project of the village church. In a refreshments period after Mass, he was open and most cordial with all the villagers and visitors. On May1, 2013, the Bishop again celebrated Mass in the village church of Garabandal and prior to the Mass, kissed a crucifix belonging to villager David Toribio that was kissed by the Blessed Virgin at Garabandal. We don't know if the Bishop knew that but we suspect he did.Bishop Jimenez's Masses in Garabandal were firsts, since no Bishop of Santander had ever said Mass in the village church from the time the apparitions began in 1961.Deacon John

About Me

I'm 80, formally married to Marianne for 52 years, [Marianne passed away to the Lord on August 9th, 2013 after suffering a stroke and two cardiac arrests.] We have 4 children (plus 2 in heaven-stillborn) and nine grandchildren plus 1 Step-grandchild. I'm a Korean War Vet, U.S. Navy; I was a Motorcycle News Courier for U.P.I., and WNEW Chanel 5 TV News, during 60's & 70's; a Lieutenant in the Wycoff Hospital Police in the 90's. I was ordained a Permanent Deacon for the Brooklyn Diocese on April 25, 1987 and served in four parishes before relocating to Florida in 2002. I'm still incardinated for Brooklyn Diocese. There was no parish in my town so we traveled to either Mt. Dora or Eustis for Mass. My oldest son and daughter, John and Anne, lived near us but the rest of the gang are up North in New York and Pennsylvania. We have now relocated to a northern state and my ministry is mostly on the Internet with some blogs and groups. I also assist the pastor at the local Catholic church. I owe my life and conversion/calling to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel de Garabandal, who has brought me to her Son Jesus. I am Their servant and slave! I only want to do the Will of God and glorify the Most Blessed Trinity with my life!